About 5 weeks after deciding that what I was battling in my hip was likely a stress fracture, I received an email from a friend asking if anyone was interested in joining her team for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure on September 15th... just 6 weeks away. After reading her story, I knew I wanted to be a part of the team. I also knew that it meant cutting short the recovery time I promised myself I would take. Hmmm... what to do, what to do?
It took all of 30 seconds to come to the conclusion that I really wanted to run this race. So I responded that she could count me in, registered online, hit up my awesome husband for a donation, then... nothing. Even though my hip was feeling a million times better than it had been, I knew that 5 weeks was not enough time to fully recover and that the smart thing to do was to take off as much time as I possibly could to assure that I wouldn't end up back where I started and have to begin the recovery process again. So, in the meantime, I read about running, signed up for a volunteer program involving running and spent my days dreaming about how it would feel to run again. I gave myself 4 more weeks' recovery time (instead of 7), then hit the pavement.
Yikes! I managed to convince a friend to run with me for my first time back and I'm fairly certain it was the only reason I kept going for the entire 2 mile run. Thank goodness for Jaime! I was shockingly out of shape and the only motivation I had was to keep up with her so that we could continue our conversation. I somehow managed to ask enough questions to keep her talking the entire time, which allowed me to focus solely on breathing... a very important part of the running process.
Yay for getting back to running! Boo for starting over :(
I ran another 2 miles the other day... it took about 19 minutes... and I'd given it my all. I'm truly not worried about the time, but it was still hard to accept just how far my fitness level had fallen. I'm a marathon runner, for crying out loud... how can 2 miles be this difficult?
There's no question that race day will be tough. But the plan is to run as a team and it's most definitely for a good cause. It's been decided that, instead of sticking around for the awards, we'll be heading out after the race to grab breakfast. Oddly enough, with the promise of food after the finish, I feel slightly better about my odds of finishing.
I'm really glad my first race back won't be a competitive one, but I'm not going to lie, I'm still a little nervous about the distance... I haven't run more than 2 miles since May!
But, believe it or not, at this very moment, as I write this post, I've come to one amazing realization... this is exactly where I was last summer... just starting out, no training under my belt, out of shape and unsure of how it was all going to work out. This is the point where I made the commitment to run a marathon. This is how I felt at the beginning of my journey. It really was the start of the most incredible year. And if the coming year ends up anything like it, I can't possibly be worried about the fact that I had to start over... I'm just too damn excited about the journey ahead.
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